Scientific Method and Experimentation in Biology

Abstract

Scientific method in biology has been of great interest since the time of the Greek philosopher Aristotle in the fourth century
before the common era. Generally, the aim has been to be like the physical sciences in being causal and increasingly showing
biology as a topic governed by universal natural laws. However, there has always been a debate about the end‐directed nature
of organisms, which seem to require explanations in terms of final causes. Although these were expelled from the physical
sciences in the scientific revolution, they remained in biology until Darwin wrote the Origin of Species. Even after that, they remained but today can be seen to be natural and brought on by Darwin's mechanism of natural selection.

Key Concepts:

Aristotle had an organic view of nature that led him to value end‐directed thinking, in terms of final cause.

The Scientific Revolution introduced the mechanical metaphor, thus making final causes otiose.

George Cuvier argued that organisms cannot be brought fully under the mechanical metaphor and thus demand final‐cause thinking.

Charles Darwin spoke to final‐cause thinking through his mechanism of natural selection, although whether he eliminated such
thinking is still debated.

The coming of molecular biology seemed a triumph of reductionist thinking and the mechanistic viewpoint, however, many think
that organisms still require understanding over and beyond that one finds in the physical sciences.

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